Sent a rail set as a kit to a guy on the east coast who wanted to make his own top planks recently and they turned out gorgeous!

Beachin' rack man!

And made his own bag too.

Photos by Jim Grey

Nice job Jim!

New phone means I can take even crappier pictures! But at least I can take horrible shots of cool stuff. First off, I’ve been putting in quite a bit of time in the machine shop at school so I get 10 points for the first pic, which is the pile of shavings that came out when boring a 1.5″ hole in inch thick stainless steel. Power tools are fun.

And I was flying out of PDX and saw one of my racks parked at the airport. I don’t know who you are but you get 10 points. I don’t yet know what the points are good for but hold on to them.

The first of the wood topped racks

Finally got the wood top plates the way I like them, and excuse me while I congratulate myself in saying they look hott. The first runs will be birch, but I do plan on finding some other woods including bamboo and okume pretty soon. Ruckus has to get through their first run of tops before I can deliver carbon fiber planks, but that’s on the menu too.

Sizing, load limits and compatibility are the same as the other Pret a Porteurs, so scope that page for those details.

$165 for birch and the others will be a bit more.

So I’ve been working a lot on some new projects this summer and they are very close to fruition. I don’t want to promise more than I have until I gots the goods but I will say that I’m millimeters away (literally and figuratively) from offering things that folks have been asking for since I started producing. And I’ve only waited so long because I wanted to do it right. And I’m doing it right. Here’s a couple pics of some recent custom jobs to whet appetites for now.

So I guess Gideon is my official test pilot now. He got the first Pret a Porteur (which he punishes daily at a print shop messenger job) and recently asked for a randonneur rack for a 400 mile three day he’s planning. Requirements were a) small, b) light, c) extra water bottle cages. It was worth the price break to get a set of the top plates so I can definitely make more of these. $90 without the bottle cage mounts, $100 with.

Dave at Blackstar is making a matching bag for it too that will slip onto that tall backrest and then snap the front for quick, secure attachment. I’ll add some pics of that when it gets done.

I’d been meaning to yap about this for a while and what better time than when my neighborhood is trying to burn itself down around me in celebration of its existence.

For all of our shortcomings and excesses we live in a great country, and being conscious of it and proud of it is the best impetus to fix the problems we do have. One very important aspect of supporting domestic industry is, unfortunately, keeping intact our ability to make tanks and fighter jets. If we no longer have factories making the steel that makes the tools that make the [insert really important thing to have in an emergency here], what happens when the $#!+ hits the fan? Funny thing is it was actually a Chinese immigrant professor of mine that recently reinforced my thinking on the topic.

As a small fry shop it’s very hard to track the true sources of my materials and even harder to keep them consistent. That said, my steel supplier is based in Seattle, my laser cutter (for the aluminum parts) is in a suburb south of Portland, and my fasteners shop is biking distance from my house. These are just distributors, of course, but I have been able to determine that most of the metal I use, by weight, is in fact American made and what is not is mostly Canadian. I also, whenever possible, buy American made tools, though I must admit it’s because they’re usually much higher quality than the cheaper imports. And of course I’m supporting American business just by being one.

OK, enough late night rant, here’s to having a cuh-hold one or so and not burning ourselves too badly this weekend.

PS, Blogger sux and has a bug with Cannon cameras that rotates my image no matter what I do to the source file, sorry to make you crane yr neck.

OK, maybe just the west coast of the US for now, but I’m growing my dealer program this summer and TCB Racks are now available at the following shops in the following cities. Look for this list to be updated throughout the next few months.

Portland

Citybikes – 1914 SE Ankeny St
Clever Cycles – 908 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Joe Bike – 3953 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Revolver Bikes – 6509-11 N Interstate Ave
River City Bicycles – 706 SE MLK Blvd
Seven Corners – 3218 SE 21st Ave
Veloce Bicycles – 3202 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Seattle

Counterbalance Bicycles – 2 W Roy St
2020 Bikes – 2020 E Union St

Los Angeles

Orange 20 Bikes – 4351 Melrose Ave

San Diego

Adams Avenue Bicycles – 2606 Adams Avenue

Support your LBS people! They are one of the best resources out there!

Dealer inquiries now welcome.

I’d been pondering the removable rail thing for a bit and finally got it to the point that I like it. It mounts to the existing hardware, so it retrofits to my existing racks and is only $40. I could make a taller, double layer version too on request that would be more of a basket. Careful now, don’t get hyp-mo-tized by all the shiny.

So what the hell is a utility cycle company doing sponsoring a race? Well, it’s a courier race.

The West Side Invite is the west coast’s premier celebration of taking things places by bike and having a well earned pint or eight afterwords. Started by Portland messengers in 2001, this is the first time it will be held out of state. Seattle has been asking to host the race for years and we finally decided we could use a break, so Emerald City here we come.

I’m putting up two racks for prizes and if I have any sway with the organizers (don’t think that’ll be a problem) they will go not to the fastest, but to the awesomest. You know, “best use of a nipple driver”, “least beer spilled while racing”, those kinds of things.

Memorial day weekend, May 22-25. If you are not there I will be having more fun than you. :P

So now that I’ve made a few batches of the new design I’m realizing that I underbid myself and have to raise my price to $140 for the Pret a Porteur (TCB 3.0) model. I realize that percentage-wise this is rather drastic, and I’m really bummed because it feels like a bit of a bait and switch, but it reflects some hidden costs that were not being addressed.

I definitely believe that this rack is still a screaming deal and the best value on the market. You will not find any porteur as sturdy, modular, shiny and versatile in a single package near this price.

I apologize to folks who missed their chance at the introduction price and hope the quality of my product will make this glitch a small one.

Tad